Warmth
by PureFuronGodliness
Summary: With the Mothership's heating system down, Pox and Crypto need to find some other way to stay warm.
1. Cold

**Author's Note: This was one of those things I just had to get out of my system at the time, and now I thought, what the heck, I'll post it. I have tons of these short little things, but most of 'em are too mediocre to post, I think. But uh, if anyone readin' this actually likes it, I might change my mind sometime. :D Please don't hurt me if ya don't like it. It's a chick thing, ya know.**

* * *

*****Warmth*****

After a long and intense mission on Earth gathering brainstems and generally destroying some humans, Crypto-137 returns to the Mothership. Only to find, when exiting his saucer, still sweaty and everything, that the Mothership's ambient temperature felt like it had dropped at least 30 degrees Fahrenheit while the warrior clone was gone.

Uncomfortably chilly, he headed for the elevator to go down to the labs.  
Once there, he approached his mentor, Orthopox-13, whom was sitting at his computers, frowning as he seemed to observe some stats.

"Dammit, Pox, it's freezin' around here." Crypto complained as he stopped behind Pox's floating cerebral chair.

"I'm aware of that, Crypto." Pox replied. "The Mothership's climating system is still malfunctioning, I was too busy guiding you to be able to fix it yet."

"So what's the problem? Have you tried rebootin' it yet?"

"I have. Several times. But to be honest, I have not yet even been able to pinpoint the source of the malfunction. It has shut itself down completely, so the Mothership has been slowly cooling down during the past few hours. It won't get much colder than this, though, for I expect a balance will soon be reached between the loss of heat, versus the Mothership's insulation layers and the sun's radiation."

"Whatever." Crypto growled. "Just try and get the damn thing fixed… And please don't tell me there ain't no hot water either…"

"Don't worry, you can take your shower as usual." Pox told him. "I'll try and look into this."

So as Pox stayed at his computer screens, trying to get to the source of the little temperature conundrum, Crypto headed up to the sleeping quarters to freshen himself up.  
He took a nice five minute shower, washing up and resetting his mind from all the stress 'n' destruction 'n' mayhem 'n' excitement 'n' explosions 'n' stuff as the caressing warm water ran down his face.

As he was done, he turned off the tap and reached for the towel he'd left on the bathroom counter. After drying his face with it, Crypto was about to run it over his arms when the bathroom lights suddenly went out.

They were soon replaced by the vague orange light of the auxiliary power system, leaving Crypto in a dim light near darkness.

* * *

"Oops." Pox mumbled down in the labs.

'_Now_ what, Pox?' Crypto's voice sounded in the Furon Commander's mind, speaking to him telepathically from up in the bathroom, his annoyance apparent.

'I made a little mistake.' Pox replied timidly.

'I can see that…'

'I'm afraid you won't be able to take a shower now…'

'You're in luck, 'cause I just finished it.' Crypto growled in response. 'What the hell did you do?'

'Well, I accidentally overloaded the power supply system.' Pox replied, a little embarrassed. 'It will need some time to reboot.'

'Yeah, how _much_ time?'

'Normally, four hours. But we'll be entering the shadow of Earth's night side in about half an hour, and since the reboot cells need to recharge themselves using solar power it will take a little longer…'

'_How much longer_…?' Crypto asked, his patience rapidly wearing thin.

'Eh, twelve hours.' Pox mumbled in response.

'You've _got_ to be kiddin' me…'

'I'm afraid not. And since we'll be out of direct sunlight for eight to nine hours, the Mothership will become a lot colder still…'

'Dammit, Pox, I'm already freezin' my ass off! And how am I goin' to find my freakin' pants now…?!'

'There's no need to yell at me…!' Pox complained.

'Yes, there is…! You're the one who screwed up…!'

'Oh, and I suppose you mean to imply _you_ would've been qualified to fix the climating system?'

'Why not? I bet a few kicks and profanities to the processor would've done the trick.'

'Right…'

'So what do we do now…?' Crypto sighed.

'There's little we _can_ do, so I'm going to hit the sack and try to stay warm. It's been months since I've last slept anyway.'

'Hey, no fair.' Crypto protested. 'What if _I_ wanna sleep? You know my bed's missin' its mattress, so where am I gonna sleep if you're hawkin' the only bed left?'

'You should have thought of that before you burned your mattress in the Recyclotron…'

'_I was drunk_…!'

'That's no excuse. Anyway, the beds are plenty large enough for the both of us. I'll tolerate you as long as you stay off my half…'

'Gee, thanks…' Crypto huffed in sarcasm.

'I'm heading up now.' Pox told him. 'If you're not going to bed right away I suggest you dress warmly. The Mothership will cool off quite rapidly once we travel into the planet's shadow and it might get as cold as 32 degrees Fahrenheit…'

Crypto had few other choices than to dry himself off in the dark bathroom and then cautiously headed for the bedrooms. After his eyes had been given some time to adjust themselves to the change in light, the warrior clone was able to make out his surroundings well enough to manage to find a decent set of clothes.  
Just as he pulled a sweater that seemed a vague grey in the dark, over his head, he heard the unmistakable low hum of Pox's cerebral chair entering the bedrooms from a few yards away.

Crypto could see a vague silhouette resembling his mentor hover over to one of the closets framing the room, and opening it.  
Pox did his best to feel out his warmest set of PJs from the stacks of fabric within the wardrobe, and once he'd identified them, proceeded to put them on, which wasn't exactly easy with his immobile legs, plus the fact he first had to dislodge his cranial supports.

"Need help?" Crypto spoke up.

He could see Pox started to the sudden sound of his voice.

"Crypto?" Pox's response came from the dark. "You're still here…? Eh, no, no… I'll manage just fine, thanks…"

He then finished dressing himself and closed the closet door.  
Pox then carefully manoeuvered his chair over to one of the beds present in the middle of the room, and currently the only usable one, and hoisted himself off his chair and onto the mattress.  
He let out a sigh of exhaustment as he settled his back against a pillow.

"So…" Pox then started to the warrior clone currently invisible to him. "What will you be doing for the next half of a day…?"

"Dunno." Crypto uselessly shrugged. "Maybe have a drink and, uh…"

That was about all he could think of.

"Fine." Pox said as soon it was clear nothing else came from the younger Furon. "I'll be sleeping. Whatever you do, please try not to wake me…"

"Got it."

Pox then lay down and settled underneath the covers, while Crypto crossed the room to head down the stairs.  
The warrior clone made his way to the living quarters' kitchen to get himself said drink, but as he opened the liquor cabinet and felt around the bottles, he realized he couldn't even tell which was which.

With a low growl of disappointment, he fruitlessly closed the cabinet again and turned to the large oval Mothership window next to him, that provided a view straight down at Earth.  
Currently, the planet's outline could hardly be made out, as the sun was now directly behind the Earth and Crypto could only see stars, and the planet's city lights.

He observed the view for a while, letting his eyes glide along the US's interstate road lighttrails as they wove an intricate web across the country.  
He did kind of miss the Furon Homeworld… The purple skies, Gorta City's nightlife, heck, even his cheap two-room condo.  
As he stood staring at Earth for several minutes, Crypto began to realize he was getting rather cold. Even colder than he'd already been.

Maybe Pox's idea of hitting the hay really wasn't such a bad one…


	2. Warmth

As Pox lay huddled up in the comforting cosiness of his favourite PJs, sheltering bedcovers and a finely crafted Furon mattress, he realized how much he'd missed his bed.  
He'd worked so hard for the past few months… He truly deserved some rest, and that made him feel even more comfortable…

He tugged his pillow a bit further over his shoulder, and sighed of content as it gave his tired neck exactly the support it needed, caressing his cheeks and promising sweet dreams.  
Pox was, however, having trouble warming up the bed and felt a bit chilly, as the cold of the room invaded and battled its way through the bedsheets, gaining the upper hand over Pox's body heat. It wasn't enough to keep Pox from sleeping, though, and as his mind slowed down to a quietly babbling creek of thoughts, he was starting to sail off.

Until he suddenly felt the bedsheets shift.

Pox's eyes shot open, and as he stared into the dark he could feel the mattress flex to the weight of another body it now had to support.  
Obviously, it was Crypto, and he scooted a little further onto the bed before lying down and lowering the covers over himself.

Pox heard him make a small growl as he got settled, and the Furon Commander wasn't too pleased with the fact all the warmth he'd built up in the half hour he'd been in bed, was now completely gone.  
Crypto seemed to sense he was still awake, as he spoke,

"You don't mind me joinin', right…? It's freakin' freezing all around the Mothership and I can't even find any vodka to warm me up…"

"It's fine." Pox replied. "Just don't move too much… I'm trying to sleep…"

"Yeah, okay…"

The room was then quiet for a while, and Crypto lay on his back, staring at the ceiling and the pattern of dim orange spots of light the auxiliary power cast on it. He wasn't likely to be able to sleep. He was bored.

"Sorry I acted like such an ass earlier." he then told Pox. "I know you didn't screw up the power grid on purpose."

"Hnn…" came Pox's response.

It was more like confirming he'd heard the warrior clone rather than an acceptance of his half-baked apology. He didn't care. He was cold and he just wanted to sleep the night away.

A shiver then caught him by surprise, and unbeknowst to Pox, Crypto heard it.  
Pox wrapped the covers around him a little tighter, but stopped moving as he suddenly felt a warmth that didn't make sense right away.

"You're still cold…?" Crypto's voice then sounded again, yet clearly closer than it had been a minute ago.

Pox then felt a hand closing around his left wrist, and Crypto's chest briefly touching his other hand as it lay on the mattress while Crypto scooted a bit closer.

"Get back to your own half, Crypto." Pox told him. "I'm not in the mood for your jokes."

"No jokes, Pox…" Crypto assured him while pulling the covers closely around the two of them. "I'm freezin' my ass off too, so we should help eachother get warm…"

Pox felt a bit awkward as Crypto lay so close. Crypto seemed to be in another one of those creepy calm moods he had every now and then… Almost uncharacteristic moments when he was sort of nice.

"We hardly ever get to talk, you and I…" Crypto continued. "It's always mission related stuff… Why don't you tell me what you've been up to…?"

"You know what I've been up to, Crypto…" Pox replied. "I never leave the Mothership, remember…? While you have your little adventures down on Earth, I do what I always do. My research, extracting Furon DNA, developing upgrades… There's isn't much I can talk about without repeating myself…"

"Well, then let's talk about somethin' else…" Crypto said, now casually putting his arms around Pox as he spoke. "Like wars we've been in, or uh, the Homeworld…"

Pox wasn't too comfortable with the embrace Crypto now had him in, but he didn't seem to mean anything by it, so Pox decided to tolerate it.

"Yes, I do rather miss the Homeworld." he sighed.

"Me too…!" Crypto let out. "These monkeys here _so_ don't know how to make decent veggie vindaloo…! Gotta love the movies, though…"

"But don't you ever have doubts, Crypto…?" Pox asked. "I pleaded to the Emperor for the urgence of our mission, yet I was only barely granted permission and sent off with, well, just you…"

Pox felt Crypto's mood change slightly, as if he was offended.

"Waddaya mean…? Ain't I doin' my job right…?"

"No, no, don't get me wrong, Crypto… You're doing a fine job, especially considering the understocked means we have… But that's just it…! The War Council tasked just the _two_ of us against an entire planet…! I should have been granted a full-on invasion force…! I just don't understand…"

"Well, don't ask me…" Crypto spoke. "I ain't much of a thinker…"

Pox was now clearly a bit upset, his worries having been stirred again, and Crypto sensed it.  
He responded by running his fingertips gently along the fabric of Pox's pajama shirt, lightly caressing his back.

"Ah, don't worry, Poxy…" he told him quietly. "The defense budget's been low for centuries, right…? Maybe they thought we'd manage on our own and were willing to accept it would take a bit longer than a normal conquest… They probably thought those monkeys wouldn't be much of an opponent, and I guess they'd kinda be right…"

Pox was only half listening, and involuntarily shuddered to the pleasant tickling sensations Crypto was giving him.  
In the dark, a small grin crept on Crypto's lips.

"You like that, huh…?"

"Still, it doesn't make sense…" Pox quickly continued. "It's the fate of the entire Furon race that's at stake…! They could at least have made a few sacrifices in some of the other funds in order to ensure our mission's success… If we fail the Furon Empire is doomed…"

"But we _won't_ fail." Crypto told him. "We're doin' fine on our own…! You're almost done restorin' my genome, right…? The War Council'll be pissin' their pants of glee when you tell 'em Crypto-138 is fully re-armed, primed and ready, baby. Just you wait…"

"I suppose you're right…" Pox mumbled, still not entirely convinced.

"Besides, I think I prefer missions like this over the large-scale mass invasion type stuff… Out in the warfield there, you're nothin' but a number and half the time you don't even know what the hell you're doin'. But now, it's just you and me, takin' all the time we need…"

"Yes… Things certainly are a lot more hectic in those interplanetary wars… And I must admit, Crypto… I think, in all my thirteen lives, you've been the only person I've truly been able to trust and rely on…"

"Heh, then you must've been hangin' around a pretty lousy crowd…" Crypto smirked.

There was another silence for a moment. Crypto continued to slowly stroke Pox's back, glad to conclude he seemed to have made him feel a bit more comfortable.  
The warrior clone stared into the darkness, and eventually asked,

"So how long've we been here now, anyway…?"

"Fourteen years…" Pox replied. "Fifteen in two months… Fifteen years of incarceration, sifting through brain sludge and devoid of all Furon company but y-…"

Crypto interrupted him by suddenly starting a kiss on Pox's lips, catching him completely off guard. He half expected Pox to explode in anger, but to his surprise, after only a second Pox welcomed it by kissing him back.

It was nothing like any kiss Crypto would share with a chick. This kiss was out of pure love and compassion, not out of lust but out of friendship.  
It wasn't invasive, it was soft and gentle, and that was exactly why Pox allowed it.  
He knew Crypto did not start it purely for himself. He knew the warrior clone meant it with all his heart and had no intent of gaining anything from it.

Pox now also put an arm around Crypto as their lips gently grazed eachother, and Crypto got a little closer, stroking Pox's shoulders while softly letting his forehead touch Pox's as they continued their kiss.  
It lasted for several minutes, before both Furons' lips parted and they merely cuddled, innocently holding eachother.  
Crypto gently caressed Pox's frail arms, squinting through the darkness into the faint shimmer of the Furon Commander's eyes.

Pox merely held his arms around the warrior clone, greatly content with the situation.  
He'd been lonely for years… This innocent yet intimate attention Crypto suddenly seemed capable of giving him was exactly what he needed…

"I-I, uh… guess this is what they call a romantic friendship, huh…?" Crypto whispered eventually.

"I suppose so…" Pox replied quietly.

There was another brief silence, before Crypto continued.

"Well… Maybe it's kinda weird… but I wouldn't mind doin' this more often…"

Pox agreed by starting another kiss on Crypto's lips.  
And Crypto was happy to return it.

Pox's lips were so soft… Soft and sweet, like a marshmallow…  
At the same time, for Pox, Crypto's kiss was firm and dry, yet surprisingly delicate and gentle. Crypto's lips were strong and agile, clear signs of the experience he'd built up with Earth females. But luckily, Crypto made a clear distinction between them and Pox.

He moved one of his hands to stroke Pox's cheeks, and after a minute, Pox gently directed the kiss to an end and placed the fingertips of his left hand to Crypto's chest.

"But… Let's keep this a secret from the Homeworld…"

"Gotcha…"

* * *

**THAT'S ALL, FOLKS  
****_I can't help it…! They're just so sweet!_**


End file.
